Marion Marechal-Le Pen’s remarkable rise in French politics

December 17, 20151:21am

Vice-President of the French far-right Front National Marion Marechal Le Pen, 25, is on track for a victory that could give the party control of a region for the first time. Picture: AFP / BORIS HORVAT

SHE’S young, beautiful and breaking all the rules. Sunday’s regional elections in France saw a remarkable performance from Marion Marechal-Le Pen who is fast becoming the face of the country’s far right.

With a second round of regional elections due on December 13, here’s what you need to know about the new face of French politics:

WHO IS SHE?

The 25-year-old mother of one is the niece of Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s Front Nationale (National Front). The party was founded by Marion’s grandfather Jean Marie Le Pen, who shocked the country by reaching the final stage of the presidential run-off in 2002, but has largely been confined to the margins due to its xenophobic policies.

In 2011 Marine Le Pen took over the leadership and has worked to bring the party back into the mainstream with a more moderate stance than her father. She has taken advantage of the economic downturn, refugee crisis and dissatisfaction with the European Union to galvanise voters with a simple message that has seen them surge in popularity over the last four years.

This year, Marine was forced to boot Jean Marie out of the party he founded because of his anti-semitic views. She is now working with Marion Marechal-Le Pen, who was the youngest person elected in France at age 22, and is the next generation of the Le Pen dynasty.

Marine Le Pen is the leader of the National Front and has her eyes on the 2017 French Presidential elections. Picture: AFP / DENIS CHARLETSource:AFP

WHAT DOES SHE STAND FOR?

Marion, 25, has been described as a “traditionalist” who is the ideological heir of her grandfather. She replaced him in his southern seat after he described the gas chambers as a “detail” of World War II but refused to support his expulsion from the party.

She is catholic and married to businessman Matthieu Decosse. Politically, she is opposed to gay marriage, abortion and wearing the veil. She has previously called for an end to state subsidised family-planning, saying the government is “peddling abortion as something that’s run-of-the-mill”.

Her main issue, however, is immigration and in Toulon she recently she caused a storm when she said Muslims could only be French if they followed a “customs and a lifestyle” shaped by centuries of Christianity, saying: “We are not a land of Islam.”

The leader of the Front National Marine Le Pen appeared in court in Lyon, Tuesday, facing charges of inciting racial hatred for comparing Muslims praying in the street with the Nazi occupation during a rally in 2010. Before the session started, Marine Le Pen defended her comments and said she was confident her case would be dismissed. She went on to brand the associations that brought her to the court as "bounty hunters acting on orders of those in power." She also stated that she "came here to defend the right of criticise behaviours that are completely illegal, contrary to secularism, contrary to the values of the French Republic." Marine Le Pen assumed the leadership of the far-right Front National in 2011, a position that was previously in the hands of her father and party founder Jean-Marie. One year earlier, in 2010, Marine spoke during a rally in Lyon, comparing the street prayers outside the mosques with the occupation of France by Nazi Germany between 1940 and 1944. It is for this speech that she is currently facing trial in Lyon.

November 3rd 2015

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Cécile Alduy, who has written a study on the NF said she is a “paradoxical character” who projects conservative attitudes through a modern image.

“She uses the words and dress code of her generation, the tone of young people, is very casual in the way she addresses others and looks very modern, but what she promotes is a very conservative, traditional agenda — in terms of morals, against women’s rights, restricting rights to abortion, very conservative about gay marriage.

“She’s probably going to be marketed by the Front National as a new young face that’s looking forward to the future of France, though when you look at what she’s promising, it is to go back to economics, legislation and morality that is from before the 1980s, at least,” she wrote.

Marion Marechal-Le Pen is vice-president of the party and has had a remarkable rise in politics. Picture: Patrick Aventurier/Getty Images.Source:Getty Images

WHAT DO THE RESULTS MEAN?

Sunday’s results mark an extraordinary arrival for both women in the French political mainstream in the first elections held under the state of emergency since the deadly terror attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.

The party achieved 28 per cent of the vote nationally and gained ground in the first round in six out of 13 regional elections, making them a real challenger to the governing socialist party led by President Francois Hollande and the Republican’s led by Nicholas Sarkozy.

However the big surprise was the individual results. Marion Marechal-Le Pen won more than 40 per cent of the vote in the glitzy southern seat of Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur which includes stunning beaches and part of the alps.

Marine Le Pen also secured 40 per cent of the vote in the northern French region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, which includes the city of Calais where the notorious jungle of migrants hoping to get to the UK made headlines this northern summer. That’s despite a major campaign by two newspapers in the region opposed to her election, and comments from French Prime Minister Manuel Valls who said she is “an economic menace” who is “conning the French on terrorism.”

WHERE TO FROM HERE?

The next step is a second round of elections held this weekend, something which will be complicated by the fact the Socialist Party has withdrawn candidates and urged its supporters to vote for conservative rivals in order to block the NF gaining any more ground.

Marion seemed unfazed by the prospect, tweeting “thank you” and “we’re ready” to her supporters after the vote. Winning either of the second elections could give them control of a region for the first time and serve as a spring board for political aspirations in 2017.

Whatever happens this weekend, it’s clear we haven’t seen the last of them yet.

National Front leader Marine Le Pen visited the Milipol-2015 internal state security exhibition in Paris, Wednesday, in the wake of a series of terror attacks that took place in the heart of France's capital. Le Pen inspected the latest drones, assault rifles, body armour and robots on display at the fair which is the largest anti-terrorism and law enforcement exhibition in Europe. The exhibition was held at Parc des Expositions de Paris Nord Villepinte, just 8 miles (12km) from Stade de France, one of the targets of Friday's terror attacks. Le Pen repeated her support to loosening gun control laws in France, calling on the public to use firearms, and spyware equipment following the Paris attacks that killed 132 people and injured more than 349. The series of coordinated attacks at six different locations took place on Friday evening. At least 87 of those victims were killed after gunmen opened fire during a concert at the Bataclan theatre, taking dozens hostage before detonating suicide bombs. Dozens more were killed in attacks at the French national stadium and a string of popular bars and restaurants. The, so-called, Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack.